Luke, Part 2 Lesson 6

A Savior of Sinners Luke 23

Man’s Value System / God’s Value System
Family: marital status, children/sons, who is greater?
Social Status: based on family name, wealth, occupation
Community Opinion: Praise, esteem, conforming to dominant values, preserving boundaries, public service / God gives different gifts to whom He will for His purposes
Loyalty to God, faithful endurance of various trials for His Name
Accountable ONLY to God, Judge of All
In the Kingdom: All earthly shame for His Name, will be reversed; THEN, restored when you receive glory, honor!

HONOR : The Supreme Goal in Life

LUKE / HONOR / SHAME / RESULT
2:7, 13
19:38 / Angels sang at His birth
Blessed is the King who comes
in the Name of the Lord / Jesus born to “unwed” mother
(“son of a whore”) / Confusion...Who IS He?
4:25-28 / God helped, healed Gentiles: women, lepers / Great famine in the Land of Israel / synagogue goers filled with rage, wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff
7:22
17:12-17 / Lepers cleansed, restored to community / Jesus touched an unclean leper / Instead of “shame” transferred to Jesus, (“clean” transferred to leper)
8:43 / Jesus restored woman, bleeding 12 yrs / Unclean woman shunned from family / She had not escaped Jesus’ notice
11:39,
42-48,
53-54 / Pharisees clean outside of cup
Pay tithe of mint , herbs
Love chief seats, respectful greetings / -Inside, full of robbery, wickedness
-Disregard justice, love of God
-Like concealed tombs, etc / You insult us,
Plotted to catch Him in something He might say
12:1-3,
8-9 / You confesses Me before men,
Son of Man will confess you before the angels of God / Hypocrites
Denies Me before men / -Said in the dark, heard in the light
-Denied before the angels of God
12:54-57 / Wise: can recognize the weather / Fools: can’t analyze this present time / Can’t even judge what is right
13:14-17 / Jesus healed a bent woman / Synagogue office: indignant (humiliated) b/c Jesus healed on a Sabbath (but OK w God to preserve life) / Entire crowd rejoicing over glorious things being done by Jesus
14:7-11 / Parable: picking out places of honor / Go, occupy the last place / Walk humbly with your God
15:17-24 / Parable: Bring out the best robe, etc / Dying with hunger / True Honor is restored by repentance
19:5-10 / Zaccheus, I’m eating at your house / This man is a sinner (tax collector) / Repentance, salvation today!
19:45-48 / My house: House of Prayer / Temple: a den of robbers / Religious leaders try to destroy Him
20:1-4
7-8 / Who gave you this authority? / Religious leaders could/would not answer Jesus’ question / Jesus used their own question to entrap them
20:15-26
/ Parable: Owner of vineyard is all powerful (even over wicked workers) / Vineyard workers destroyed, vineyard given to others / Religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus
20:27,
38-40 / Sadducees try to outsmart Jesus with a difficult theological question / Jesus handily answers them: “you do not know the Scriptures” / No courage to question Him any longer
20:45-21:4 / Jesus praises a poor widow for giving all she had (2 mites) / Beware of scribes: love respectful greetings, but devour widows’ houses / Religious ones will receive greater condemnation
22:2-5 / (Judas disappointed that Jesus was not the “Conquering King”) / Judas betrayed Him to religious leaders / Satan entered Judas
22:24-27 / Dispute: Which of us will lead the disciples after Jesus is gone? / Does seating arrangement or age determine the “least” special? / Who is greatest? The one who serves, faithfully stands by Me in trials
22:63-65
23:2,5,10-11 / Religious and political leaders seemed lifted up in greater power / Mocking, beating, falsely accusing Jesus vehemently / Leaders temporarily “won the day”
23:13-14,
20-25 / Pilate: I find NO GUILT in Him (3x) / With loud voices, insistently crying out: Crucify Him! Crucify Him! / Pilate granted their demands
23:22,
32-37 / Jesus rightly identified as “King of the Jews” / Scourged, stripped. Sneered at & mocked the One, who appeared weak / Jesus refused to save Himself, as per the Father’s will

There is an aspect of Middle Eastern “shame system” that deepens our appreciation of the Gospels and the radical message of Jesus. Shame is a “zero-sum system”. That is, when someone rises to plus 2, someone else must be lowered to minus 2, resulting in a net gain that is always zero. Think of honor and shame as a teeter-totter. If one end is to rise, the other end must fall to the same degree. If someone’s honor is to be enhanced, then someone else’s honor must be degraded. For one person to win, in the Middle Eastern shame system, requires another to lose. The scholars term this dynamic the “Image of Limited Good.”

-Doug Greenwold, Preserving Bible Times

At Jesus’ trials, it was never really a matter of His innocence or guilt to the corrupt Jewish leaders. “Crucify Him” became ever louder, because of the ENVY in their unrepentant hearts, desiring to maintain their places of perceived “honor” in the religious system they created for themselves.

Mark 15:10 For Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over because of envy.